Composer Threads Official Danny Elfman Thread

[ddddeeee 256]

9 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Awesome! Should throw in a couple of other unreleased concert music things too, like the Overeager Overture, the percussion quartet (not the same as the percussion concerto!) and Suite for Chamber Orchestra.

The percussion quartet was released in 2022! Third Coast Percussion released it in the album 'Perspectives'. It got two Grammy nominations.

[Thor 7,504]

Damn, I must have missed or forgotten that. Another addition to my Elfman buy list, then.

[ddddeeee 256]

It's a lot of fun. They uploaded performances of the four movements to Youtube, too.

 

 

 

 

 

[Thor 7,504]

Yeah, I saw and downloaded the YouTube performance years ago (not sure it was that one, but probably the one where Philip Glass was present; Elfman and Glass had a chat on-stage afterwards). But I didn't know, or had forgotten, that it had been put out on CD.

[Jay 37,364]

People who bought the CD version posted pics of it on page 14

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

3 hours ago, ddddeeee said:

It's a lot of fun. They uploaded performances of the four movements to Youtube, too.

 

 

 

 

 

The album is well with hearing although have to admit that I enjoyed the non-Elfman percussion works more (good though it is). Definitely feel that the percussion concerto is the superior work so looking forward to hearing that again (having loved seeing it performed live in London). 

[GerateWohl 4,369]

Just now, Tom Guernsey said:

The album is well with heeding although have to admit that I enjoyed the non-Elfman percussion works more

Same here.

[ddddeeee 256]

The opening movement of Elfman's percussion concerto was uploaded to Youtube 9 hours ago, but it's not available yet. This is presumably following the release pattern for his violin concerto which uploaded the third movement as a 'promo' track of sorts.

 

Sony Classical will be releasing the album, which also features Wunderkammer.

 

 

[Jay 37,364]

Yea the whole album's tracklist is up on iTunes.  Drops May 17th

 

 

1 Wunderkammer: I
2 Wunderkammer: II
3 Wunderkammer: III
4 Percussion Concerto: I. Triangle
5 Percussion Concerto: II: D.S.C.H.
6 Percussion Concerto: III. Down
7 Percussion Concerto: IV. Syncopate
8 Are You Lost?

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/percussion-concerto-wunderkammer/1737254712

[ddddeeee 256]

CD release please....

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

It's Sony. A CD release is almost certain to happen.

Yavar

[crocodile 8,013]

It's listed on Amazon UK but unavailable to order.

 

 

Karol 

[ddddeeee 256]

3 hours ago, ddddeeee said:

The opening movement of Elfman's percussion concerto was uploaded to Youtube 9 hours ago, but it's not available yet. This is presumably following the release pattern for his violin concerto which uploaded the third movement as a 'promo' track of sorts.

 

Sony Classical will be releasing the album, which also features Wunderkammer.

 

 

This is available for me to listen now. I'm guessing since it's after 12am here.

[Thor 7,504]

Great news about the album, and hopefully a CD release too. Of course, I'm broke, so it joins the nine other Elfman CDs on my want list that I've been unable to afford/buy in recent years, making it an even ten!

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

5 minutes ago, Thor said:

making it an even ten!

 

[ddddeeee 256]

 

[Jay 37,364]

Physical CD on Amazon US

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ7C3D9V

[ddddeeee 256]

From the Amazon preorder links:

 

 

PERCUSSION CONCERTO

 

Percussion has always been an important part of my life. Beginning in my travels though West Africa when I was 18 years old, when I began collecting and learning to play ‘balafons’ (kind of like the African version of a marimba), and through my years of playing in metal-based Indonesian Gamalan ensembles in my twenties, as well as building my own strange metal and wood percussion ensembles in my early theatrical performance years, it has always been a lifelong obsession.

Shortly after we premiered my first violin concerto, I had a chance meeting with percussionist Colin Currie in London. We decided it could be great fun to create a piece together. I was excited to plunge into the challenge of another concerto while at the same time to really go back to my roots with wood and metal, mallets and sticks and hands. I also knew Colin was an extraordinary musician who would be great to collaborate with.

And I was aware that there were far fewer concertos for percussion then the more obvious piano, violin, cello, etc, and that meant there were far fewer models to guide me which made the idea of a percussion concerto far more enticing.

 

Wunderkammer

 

It was just before the pandemic when I was in London working on a film score, and my publisher suggested I meet the NYOGB (The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain) as they had expressed interest in the possibility of doing a commission. At first I was skeptical about the idea of a youth orchestra, but I decided to attend a performance they were giving. I was, to say the least, blown away by how good they were. I decided on the spot that I would indeed find a way to write a piece for them.

So I jumped into the composition that’s now called Wunderkammer. My original intentions was to create something that was very challenging for them, as I knew they were up for that, and something that would also be fun and exciting for them to dig into which might feature different instrument sections throughout to give everyone a moment to shine.

A Wunderkammer (or “wonder room”) is a cabinet of curiosities or even a room of mystery and oddities which can be fun, or scary, intriguing or instructive, but never boring! And that’s just what I was hoping to bring to the NYOGB with Wunderkammer.

 

ARE YOU LOST?

 

My first concerto was written for violinist Sandy Cameron. She had been besieging me for ages to write a duet for violin and voice. I finally relented on the condition that we add a piano and make it a trio. While talking about the project with two composer friends we all decided to write for the same trio for a collaborative project which will be called, appropriately, “Trio”. When I began discussing the possibility of recording the concerto and Wunderkammer with Sony Classical they suggested that I include something that had never been performed. It was then I decided to take one of the 4 moments I’d written for “Trio” and to both expand and adapt it for choir and full orchestra. Thus, the origins of “Are You Lost?”

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

2 hours ago, ddddeeee said:

From the Amazon preorder links:

 

 

PERCUSSION CONCERTO

 

Percussion has always been an important part of my life. Beginning in my travels though West Africa when I was 18 years old, when I began collecting and learning to play ‘balafons’ (kind of like the African version of a marimba), and through my years of playing in metal-based Indonesian Gamalan ensembles in my twenties, as well as building my own strange metal and wood percussion ensembles in my early theatrical performance years, it has always been a lifelong obsession.

Shortly after we premiered my first violin concerto, I had a chance meeting with percussionist Colin Currie in London. We decided it could be great fun to create a piece together. I was excited to plunge into the challenge of another concerto while at the same time to really go back to my roots with wood and metal, mallets and sticks and hands. I also knew Colin was an extraordinary musician who would be great to collaborate with.

And I was aware that there were far fewer concertos for percussion then the more obvious piano, violin, cello, etc, and that meant there were far fewer models to guide me which made the idea of a percussion concerto far more enticing.

 

Wunderkammer

 

It was just before the pandemic when I was in London working on a film score, and my publisher suggested I meet the NYOGB (The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain) as they had expressed interest in the possibility of doing a commission. At first I was skeptical about the idea of a youth orchestra, but I decided to attend a performance they were giving. I was, to say the least, blown away by how good they were. I decided on the spot that I would indeed find a way to write a piece for them.

So I jumped into the composition that’s now called Wunderkammer. My original intentions was to create something that was very challenging for them, as I knew they were up for that, and something that would also be fun and exciting for them to dig into which might feature different instrument sections throughout to give everyone a moment to shine.

A Wunderkammer (or “wonder room”) is a cabinet of curiosities or even a room of mystery and oddities which can be fun, or scary, intriguing or instructive, but never boring! And that’s just what I was hoping to bring to the NYOGB with Wunderkammer.

 

ARE YOU LOST?

 

My first concerto was written for violinist Sandy Cameron. She had been besieging me for ages to write a duet for violin and voice. I finally relented on the condition that we add a piano and make it a trio. While talking about the project with two composer friends we all decided to write for the same trio for a collaborative project which will be called, appropriately, “Trio”. When I began discussing the possibility of recording the concerto and Wunderkammer with Sony Classical they suggested that I include something that had never been performed. It was then I decided to take one of the 4 moments I’d written for “Trio” and to both expand and adapt it for choir and full orchestra. Thus, the origins of “Are You Lost?”

Wow sounds like it’ll be a cracking album. Can’t wait to hear it and to experience the percussion concerto again. The live performance in London was terrific and it was a brilliant work. 

[ddddeeee 256]

Live performance of Elfman's piano quartet.

 

 

[Edmilson 7,454]

Daniel 

 

Is Danny not "serious" enough for the classical music world?

[ddddeeee 256]

Old featurette of Elfman for Spider-Man 2. I remember seeing this around the release of the movie. Haven't seen it in almost 20 (!) years.